What Agent Middleware Can (And Should) Do For You

This paper addresses the issue of moving agent technology to the mainstream, looking from various perspectives at the mainstreaming process that can take place during a technology life cycle, radically moving its status from a supposedly good idea to an actual economic and industrial workhorse that lends itself useful in everyday life. While there is serious evidence that agent technology is approaching this critical point, it is by no means possible to tell whether agent technology will eventually be adopted on a global scale or not. However, looking at the various factors that can make the difference between acceptance and oblivion, a mainstreaming strategy can be set up. We claim that agent middleware has to play a fundamental role in this strategy, and we motivate our belief on the basis of general considerations and on our actual experience with the JADE agent platform.